By the Lake
by R3aper
Summary: One shot, 4th year. Harry is having some trouble sleeping, so he goes for a walk. Down by the lake, he meets Fleur Delacour, where he reveals some of his past. Check out my story, "Flurry of Life" for an updated version.


**I haven't read the books in ages, so please bear with me if I messed up anything.**

**For the sake of making my life easier, Fleur will not have an accent in this.**

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Harry couldn't sleep. He had tossed and turned in his bed for the past hour while his dorm-mates had quietly dozed, or in Ron's case, loudly snored.

The Triwizard tournament was too much. He had already had to out run a dragon and fight off grindylows in the Black Lake to save his friends that were never even in danger. Now he had to navigate a maze with Merlin knew what magical creatures lurking in it. With Hagrid involved, they had to be just as, if not more dangerous than the dragons. Even with all the safety precautions in place, it's amazing no one had died yet.

Harry flipped onto his back and rested his hands at his sides.

He needed air. Harry swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stood. He grabbed a pair of shoes and the Marauder's Map from his trunk and crept past his sleeping roommates. Once he was out in the hallway, Harry slipped on the shoes and used a simple transfiguration spell on his pajamas, turning them into a pair of jeans and sweatshirt.

Harry quickly navigated past the sleeping paintings and out of the castle. Harry made his way through the cool air to the shore of the Black Lake, guided by moonlight. He sat down on a dead log that had drifted ashore and listened to the waves. A tree loomed over him, bathing him in darkness. Harry closed his eyes and smiled. It was quite relaxing.

The soft crash of the small waves was disturbed by faint music. Harry strained his ears to hear. No, it wasn't music, is was someone singing. Harry turned to find the source of the singing, his eyes resting on a slender figure walking down towards the shore. He couldn't make much out other that the figure seemed to be a girl.

As the figure grew closer, Harry began to decipher some of the sounds. He recognized some words. It was French! Hermione had taught him some French after her vacation in the country. Despite hardly paying any attention to her, it seemed like he had learned something.

The figure's features grew more prominent as it approached. Pants and a dark jacket clung to the girl's slim frame. A hood covered her head, but Harry definitely spotted some silvery blonde hair.

Despite him seeing her, she seemed to not have noticed him. She stopped not far from him, sitting down on a rock by the shore and gazing out at the dark waters, still singing in French, although more softly.

The girl transfigured a couple of rocks into logs, setting them alight with an _incendio_.

Harry silently debated with himself on whether to approach the girl or not. On one hand, it'd probably be really creepy for him to just emerge out of the shadows. On the other hand, Harry had the strange need to talk to her, whoever she was.

"You are not that sneaky, you know." A voice broke his internal argument. "You should probably come out, or you'll seem more creepy than you already are."

Well, he couldn't argue with that. Harry walked into the orange light cast by the burning logs.

The girl pulled down her hood and looked at him. "Fleur?" Harry realized when he was just steps away.

"Harry Potter?" Fleur smiled at her fellow competitor.

"Hi Fleur."

"Hello Harry." Fleur patted the space next to her on the rock. "Come, sit." With no other true option other than run away, Harry obliged.

"You know, I wasn't trying to be sneaky." Harry explained.

"Mhm."

"I was already sitting in the dark when you got here."

"Sure you were, " Fleur smiled. "I'm sure little boys like yourself love peeking on girls." She teased. Harry's face grew tomato red at the comment.

"I'm not a little boy." Harry said indignantly.

"Yes, little boys wouldn't be able to get into this tournament."

"I never even wanted to be in this stupid tournament." Harry muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that this tournament is stupid." Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I never wanted to participate."

"Why? This tournament would give the winner fame and glory! Everyone in Europe would know their name!" Fleur smiled at the thought.

"And?" Harry said sharply. "I don't want any of that!" He threw his hands up agitation. "I've had enough of it my whole life!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm Harry-freaking-Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived! That's what I mean! My whole life has been fucking hell!"

"It has?" Fleur's expression was incredulous. "But you're the savior of the Wizarding World, I had always assumed you were treated like royalty."

"Well you assumed wrong." Harry rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the dancing flames. "I was never raised around magic. For the first eleven years of my life, I lived with my muggle relatives. They called me a freak and treated me like a slave. I didn't even know I was a wizard until Hagrid, our gamekeeper, tracked me down and told me the truth." Harry glanced at Fleur, who was silent, but he could see the surprise in her eyes. "Then, first year happened. I met Voldemort for the first time since I was a baby."

"But, didn't you kill Voldemort all those years ago?"

"Apparently, I didn't kill all of him. His soul managed to escape when the spell rebounded on him. Anyways, I managed to defeat him again. In the second year, I was accused of being a dark wizard because I'm a parseltongue. Pretty much the whole school ostracized me. I then had to fight Voldemort, except this one was a younger version trapped in a diary, and his basilisk in a dungeon underneath the school. And to make a long story short for third year, there was thankfully no Voldemort, I found out who my godfather was and fought some Dementors."

Fleur sat there for a moment, processing all the information given to her.

She began slowly. "Harry, I'm sorry for misjudging and for you calling you a little boy."

"It's alright."

There was a flash of movement and suddenly Fleur's arm's were wrapped around Harry's neck and her body pressed up against his in a very intimate hug. A pink tinge invaded his cheeks.

"I know nothing can what has happened to you, Harry. But I hope that things will turn for the better for you." Harry returned the hug, blinking away tears. No one had ever said that to him.

They released each other.

"Thank you, Fleur." Harry rose from his seat. "I think I'll go back to the dorms now. I came down here to clear my head and it feels a lot clearer now."

"Good night then, Harry." Fleur hugged him again, this time much less intimate.

"Good night, Fleur."

When Harry returned to his bed, a fell asleep with a smile on his face.

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**So there you have it. I did this because I was randomly inspired and felt there was a severe lack of Harry/Fleur stories compared to other couples. Many H/F stories were left incomplete by their authors or ruined by harems. I would write my own story, but I'm not too strong of a writer and it took me about 2 weeks to squeeze this short fic out of my brain.**

**Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this!**


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